Method of making a mobile type sign element



March 27, 1962 HOLCOMBE 3,026,608

METHOD OF MAKING A MOBILE TYPE SIGN ELEMENT Filed Sept. 28, 1960 INVENTOR Ralph L. fifolcombe,

25 I ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,0Z6,fi98 Patented Mar. 27, 1962 ice 3,026,608 METHOD OF MAKWG A MOBILE TYPE SIGN ELEMENT Ralph L. Holcombe, Ada, kla., assignor, by mesne assignments, to The Daw Corporation, Seminole, Okla.,

a corporation of Oklahoma Filed Sept. 23, 1960, Ser. No. 58,986 Claims. (Cl. 29416) This invention relates to a mobile type sign element and method of making the same.

More particularly the invention pertains to a method of making a mobile sign element, and to the article thus produced, which method comprises passing a continuous strip of sheet material between one or more pairs of coacting dies which simultaneously or sequentially punch out from one side of the strip sequins so spaced as to leave therebetween post forming parallel strips, tab defining spaced notches in the other side of the strip, punch element mounting holes in said tabs and sequin mounting holes in said sequins, bend said tabs at right angles to said strip, and curve bend said tongues about their mid lines especially at their free ends to reduce their width to permit placement of said sequins thereon; next so placing said sequins; and finally flattening the transversely curved tongue ends to retainingly expand them to dimensions wider than the mounting holes in the sequins, the strip being severable into lengths carrying any desired number of sequins.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a mobile sequin sign element in relatively long strips severable into use lengths and formed from a strip of material from which the sequins are punched at spacings defining therebetween the sequin supporting posts.

It is another object to provide such a sign element in which the sequins are punched from one margin of the strip while the other margin is simultaneously die shaped to have mounting tabs staggered relative to the posts for easy mounting of element segments.

It is a further object to provide a method of punching and shaping the element including assembly line attaching of the punched-out sequins as by the use of a suction cup for gripping the sequins and placing them serially on the posts.

Other and further objects of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the following specification taken in conjunction with the drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a typical use installation of the disclosed sign elements,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged exploded plan view schematically partially showing some of the fabricating steps,

FIG. 3 is an end elevational view of the completed element, the same also showing in phantom both the sequin assembling step and the element mounting method,

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of a mounted segment of the element, and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the unmounted element of FIG. 4.

With reference now to FIG. 2 of the drawings, the numeral 11 designates the continuous strip of sheet material from which the sign element is formed by being continuously passed between sets of punching and shaping dies (not shown) in generally conventional manner. The dies can be mating pairs of rollers, or can be reciprocating fiat pairs acting on the strip fed intermittently therebetween in steps in known manner. The sheet 11 (of transverse dimension D) can be sheet metal or plastic, but relatively soft aluminum alloys have been found to be quite satisfactory.

The first punching operation is that of punching out the discs 13d to leave the strip moving and locating holes 13 engageable by feed controlling pins or teeth, not shown,

' on synchronizing wheels or chains, in conventional manner. Next, the sequins 15 are punched out simultaneously with or subsequently to punching out their mounting hole leaving discs 17d. Tack or screw-receiving apertures 19 are desirably formed at the same time as holes 17 in sequins 15 by punching out discs 19d.

The next fabrication steps are the simultaneous cutting out of and discarding of the semi-circular discs 21d to leave the notches 21 between the apertured mounting tabs 23, and of the roughly trapezoidal discarded pieces 25 by which the post forming tongues 27 are formed to desired length and shape. The tongues 27, it will be noted, are the portions left between the punched out sequins 15. The tongues 27 can be transversely shaped into their inverted V cross sections (FIGS. 3 and 5) either simultaneously with punching out portions 21d and 25 or subsequently as preferred.

The final shaping operation is the bending down of the tabs 23, which may proceed or follow the shaping of the tongues 27. It should be noted, however, that the order and timing of the various cutting and shaping operations can be varied greatly without departing from the spirit of the invention, since if reciprocating dies are used most or all of the cutting operations can be performed simultaneously and can be done simultaneously with some or all of the shaping operations. The latter can also be performed at one stroke of such dies.

FIG. 2 also shows one method of picking up the cut out sequins 15, namely the use of a suction cup 29 supplied with suction through a flexible conduit 31. FIG. 3 illustrates how the suction cup held sequin may then be placed on the free end of the bend narrowed post 27. After the end of post 27 is flattened, as shown at 27 in FIGS. 4 and 5 (to prevent sequin displacement therefrom), the cup 29 is pulled therefrom with or without first reducing the suction therein as by the use of manual, foot operated or automatic valves, in known manners. The resulting multiple sequin element 33 of FIGS. 4 and 5 may then be cut into desired lengths, such as the short three-sequin or longer eight-sequin lengths (33a and 33b, respectively, of FIG. 1), and attached to a base 35 of Wood, metal, etc., as by self-tapping screws 37, tacks (not shown), etc. The base 35 may be of a background panel of insignificant shape (not shown) or can be of any desired configuration, such as the letter L employed for illustration in FIG. 1.

While but one form of the invention has been shown and described herein, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that many minor modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of making mobile sequin sign elements in strip form severable into use lengths, comprising: introducing between sets of punching and shaping dies deformable sheet material of a width somewhat greater than the diameter of the sequins thereof, certain of said dies punching sequins and eccentrically located small m0unting holes therein from said sheet material along the edge thereof and at spacings defining therebetween elongated laterally extending tongues, punching portions from the other margin to define evenly spaced apertured mounting tabs, and certain of said dies bending said apertured tabs at an angle of the order of ninety degrees to the sheet material proper and bending at least the tips of said fingers into width-reducing curved transverse cross sections to facilitate placement of said sequins thereon; placing said sequins one on each width reduced post formed by said fingers; and expanding said tips to widths greater than the apertures in said sequins for positive retention of the latter on said posts.

2. A method according to claim 1 and additionally 3 comprising the step of initially punching strip-feeding equally spaced holes in said strip.

3. A method according to claim 1, the sequin placing stepvbeingperformed by the use of suction cup means for vgripping the cut out sequins and placing the same on said posts.

4. A method according to claim 1, said tip expanding step being performed by flattening said tips between clamping jaws.

5. A method of making a mobile sequin sign element in strip formlseverable into use lengths, comprising: eccentrically aperturing and punching sequins from one edge of a relatively narrow-strip of deformable sheet material at evenly spaced intervals to leave post forming fingers between sequin producing areas thereof, punching the 15 2,795,070

other edge of said strip to define apertured attachment means for mounting said use lengths on a supporting structure, bending at least the tip portions of said post forming fingers into width reducing curved transverse cross sections to facilitate mounting of said punched out sequins thereon by reception of said bent tip portions of said fingers in the sequin apertures, so mounting said sequins on said bent tip portions of said fingers, and expanding said bent tip portions of said fingers to widths greater than the diameters of said sequin apertures to retain said sequins thereon.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Touche June 11, 1957 

